


Blaze

by empresscomplex



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:06:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21864196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empresscomplex/pseuds/empresscomplex
Summary: After running into the Gym Leader of Motostoke, the two of you hit it off.
Relationships: Kabu/Reader
Comments: 15
Kudos: 284





	1. Kindling

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long time since I've written anything for Pokemon but after seeing Kabu, I couldn't help myself. He's really... hot.

Although the first time you had visited Motostoke had been in the winter when the red bricks were covered in a fine layer of snow, you found that you preferred the city in the summer. Even though the heat could get unbearable at times, you found it far more enjoyable to sit out on the patio of a cafe with a cold drink than to sit inside trying to warm up with a coffee. You felt like you couldn't enjoying the city properly in the winter.

Your Pokémon agreed with you. Applin was resting on your lap, enjoying the warmth of your hands, and Drakloak was asleep on the patio stones soaking up the heat. You weren't surprised. All of your Pokémon were cold-blooded and would take advantage of the sunlight whenever they got the chance. Although Pokéballs were supposed to have everything that Pokémon needed, nothing could compare to natural light, at least not to your Pokémon.

You would have liked to have Flygon join you but there wasn't enough room for her on the patio. She had been walking with you earlier when you had been walking down the street but before heading into the cafe you had returned her to her Pokéball. You had apologized to her as you sent her back into the Pokéball, promising to save her a treat from the cafe. Though she had treated you to the usual glare, she had gotten back into her Pokéball, however reluctantly.

In another hour or two Flygon could enjoy as much sunlight as she wanted to. Once you left the city and returned to the Wild Area she could come out of her Pokéball. Even once you got to work she could stay out. Working at the Pokémon Nursery had its perks. Your own Pokémon could play with those who were staying at the Nursery as long as they were well-behaved. It was something no office job could ever offer, at least to a Pokémon of her size.

A far cry from the office jobs of your past, your job at the Nursery was just about perfect. It was a rather low effort job, or maybe you enjoyed it enough that it seemed that way. Other people might have found the duties too boring or repetitive but you weren’t them.

While tending after the Pokémon could become tedious at times, you believed that you had found your passion. You had once thought that people who told you to find a job you loved were liars, only saying that to try to convince themselves that they were happy with their own jobs, but after a few weeks working at the Nursery you had realized that they were right. While your boss occasionally took in a few too many Pokémon than what you could handle comfortably, your average day was quite enjoyable.

But as great a job as it was, you would have preferred to stay in the city for a bit longer before returning to work. Living in Hulbury, the only time you spent in the city was when your train passed through the city during your daily commute. Most of your free life was spent in your hometown or in the Wild Area with your Pokémon.

But unfortunately you were in Motostoke for business, not for pleasure, and you had to return to work for the afternoon. Your boss had given you an extended lunch in exchange for running a few errands in the city and you had no complaints. It was nice to break up the monotony of the workweek. You had dropped off some paperwork at the bank and sent some letters at the post office, and while your boss had given you an extra two hours to sort everything, it hadn't even taken an hour. You were left with plenty of time to enjoy the city.

Drakloak made a sound that could only be described as something between a hiss and a bark, drawing your attention. Although your first instinct was to assume that some Pokémon walking by had caught his eye, when you looked to follow his line of sight you found yourself looking at a Trainer instead.

“He’s evolved,” the man commented, looking down at your Pokémon. “He was only a Dreepy the last time that we met.” He knelt down and offered his hand for Drakloak to smell. He recognized the scent, however it was hardly familiar. He had smelled it once or maybe twice, but not any more than that.

All that mattered to your Drakloak was that the person who had approached wasn’t a danger. Content, he dropped his head and returned to relaxing on the warm stones of the patio. Drakloak was right. The person who had approached was someone you knew, although not very well. Standing before you was the Gym Leader of Motostoke, Kabu. Dressed the same as the day you had met him, he was wearing his Gym uniform, but since you hadn’t seen him approach you didn’t know whether he was heading towards the Gym or after from it.

“Flygon’s all grown up now too,” you told him. Out of all of your Pokémon, he would remember her the best. Actually, you were surprised that he remembered Drakloak at all. Drakloak, as weak as he had been in his unevolved form, had only taken down a single Pokémon. Your Flygon, then only a Vibrava, had been the one to handle the rest of his team. 

“That’s always exciting,” he said. “Quite the drastic change too.”

Though Kabu would have liked to see your Flygon for himself just out of curiosity, this wasn't the place for it. He would have liked to have his Centiskorch accompanying him, but he was waiting to get into the Wild Area to let all of his Pokémon out. For the sake of the unity of his team it was best not to play favourites. 

“Mostly in size,” you said, nodding. Even though you had known what she would evolve into, you had been surprised by the change. “She eats a lot more than she used to.”

Kabu couldn’t help but laugh. He had experienced the same thing when he had evolved his Arcanine a year or two ago. Mere moments after being exposed to a Fire Stone his small Growlithe had more than tripled in size.

There was no one sitting at the chair across from you and catching Kabu looking at it, you waved for him to sit. Though your Pokémon were keeping you company, you appreciated someone that you could have a conversation with. Hesitating only for a moment, he pulled out the seat and down across from you. His Pokémon could wait awhile longer.

Even though he was Gym Leader, you felt comfortable enough with Kabu to ask him to join you. Although he took battling seriously, he had a friendly demeanor and treated everyone equally regardless of who they were. Shaking his hand after winning the match against him you had felt the respect in the handshake and had seen it in his eyes, but it had been there even before you had officially won the match. And so while the two of you had hardly exchanged words before now, you had no problem chatting with him. 

But though both of you were comfortable chatting, starting a conversation was never without any difficulty.

“How have you been?” he asked, sparing you from having to be the first to speak.

“Fine, fine.” Work had been going well as always, but even if it hadn’t there was only one answer to a question like that. “What about yourself?”

“We’ve been training a lot,” he said, “but it’s been going well.”

You nodded, and considered asking about his team but decided against when you saw how Kabu was looking at you. Applin squirmed on your lap, just as apprehensive as you were. Kabu was looking at you with an expression that wasn’t suited for chatting about your Pokémon or whatever other mundane topic you might have settled on.

Mirroring him you frowned but didn’t say anything, waiting for him to speak instead. You knew it couldn’t have been something you had said; you hadn’t said anything at all. 

Noticing your reaction, Kabu tried to relax but the worry lines were still deeply etched onto his face. As prominent as they were, you thought they suited him. You wouldn’t expect anything less from such a serious Gym Leader.

“Did you ever challenge Bea?” he asked, careful to keep the tone of his voice as light as possible. “I never saw it on the news.” It hadn’t been that he hadn’t known what to say earlier, but rather that he was reluctant to say what he had wanted to. He knew that it might be a delicate subject.

“Ahh,” you breathed, just about all you could manage. No matter how many times people asked, it always resulted in the same awkward conversation. “I dropped out.” 

Hearing you reply, Kabu breathed with the same heaviness that you had. It wasn’t at all what he had been expecting to hear. Or maybe what he had been hoping to hear. Deep down he had known. Sometimes people participating in the challenge would take an extended break of a month or two between Gyms but by the time he had realized that you had never challenged Bea several months had already passed.

“Can I ask why?” If your tone had been more somber he wouldn’t have pried but the casualness of your answer made him comfortable enough to ask. Dismissing his concern, you waved the hand that wasn’t resting on Applin. You were completely desensitized to the issue by now.

“After getting the badge from your Gym I got a couple of job offers,” you told him. “It was hard to refuse.”

While all the Gym Leaders were tough opponents, Kabu was seen as the first real hurdle in the Gym Challenge. Beating him and getting the badge was an accomplishment in itself. It proved that you were a capable Trainer. It didn’t hurt that you had demonstrated you could raise Dragon-type too. 

“I understand,” Kabu assured you. Although you might have expected a different reaction from someone who based so much of their life around the Gym Challenge, Kabu was nothing but understanding.

Though you appreciated the reassurance you didn’t need it. Quitting the Gym Challenge had been the right decision, at least for you. Eve from the start, part of you had known what the end result would be. You would never finish the Challenge. You weren't being pessimistic, only realistic. Even if you made through the eight Gyms, no one had ever beaten the current Champion. 

But still, even knowing that, you had taken up the Challenge. Regardless of how things went, you needed to get away from work. If you weren’t taking up the Challenge, you would be exploring another region or filling up the Pokédex or something along those lines. You couldn’t keep working your job like this, living the same week on loop. Thanks to the money you had saved up over the course of the past few years you could afford to quit your job. Your coworkers were sceptical but supportive of you, telling you that they would livestream your matches.

Maybe knowing that someone was rooting for you was what drove you to train as hard as you did. Or maybe it was your own sheer determination. Either way you had completed the first three Gyms and you were content with that. You felt no shame in dropping out. Having spent most of your savings it would have been difficult to continue moving forward anyway.

Most of the other entrants didn’t have to worry about their finances. At least a decade younger than you their parents funded their Gym Challenge and there were plenty of scholarships that caught the children who would have fallen through the gaps otherwise. No one missed out on the Challenge for a lack of money, not at that age anyway.

You hadn’t been interested in training Pokémon when you were in school, preferring to focus on your studies. Working your absolutely mediocre office job, that hadn’t gotten you anywhere though, and you regretted not entering the Challenge when you were younger. There were no scholarships for you now, even though the Challenge was open for anyone who wanted to attempt it. You were a late bloomer and while there wasn’t anything wrong with that, you had to fund yourself.

Catching yourself, you looked up at Kabu.

“Everything turned out though,” you ended. It was the truth. You were far happier now than you had been before quitting your job, even discounting the difference that your new job made by itself. You had gone from considering buying an Eevee or maybe a Meowth to have as company to having a team of Pokémon, and Dragon-type Pokémon at that.

“I’m glad to hear that.” While some of your friends had given you shit for dropping out of the Gym Challenge after quitting your job to enter it, there was no judgment coming from Kabu. And it wasn’t that he was hiding his true feelings either. He understood.

“Have you heard about Turtonator?” Kabu asked, deciding that you were likely tired of talking about the Gym Challenge. Almost conspiratorially, he leaned in towards you. His hands folded together, he rested them on the table. 

“What about them?” While you were far from an expert on Pokémon, you recognized the name. If it hadn’t been a Dragon-type Pokémon you might have had to think about the name a bit more but knew most if not all of the Dragon-type Pokémon. All of the discovered Pokémon anyway. It seemed that new Pokémon were being discovered every few years or so.

“Have you caught one?”

“I haven’t been to Alola,” you laughed. You would have loved to be able to afford to go but even with your new job, it would take quite a while to get to the point where you could comfortably go on vacation, even to a closer, more inexpensive region.

“I haven’t either,” Kabu told you, shaking his head. “There are some in the Wild Area.”

“Really?” Trying to play down your interest, you failed miserably and let your excitement come out in your voice. Ever since you had read about Turtonator you had been interested in adding it to your team. Aside from how all your Pokémon shared Dragon-typing, your team had good coverage. But adding a Fire-type to your team would help round it out. You had contemplating ordering an egg but while you could afford it, just barely, the shipping and handling put it far out of your price range.

“Where?” you asked. You were more than familiar with the Wild Area, going there often for both work and to train, and yet you had never seen a Turtonator. You had searched online for any reported sightings of the Pokémon but despite visiting some of the locations where they had been sighted your search had proven fruitless.

Kabu had to think for a moment. Walking or biking through the Wild Area was one thing, but describing the area was something else entirely.

“It’s around the Giant’s Cap,” he muttered as he tried to visualize the area.

Though you appreciated the information, the Giant’s Cap wasn’t small. It would take a few days to search the entire area, and that was provided the Pokémon stayed in a single area and didn’t move around.

Still having a hard time trying to describe where he had caught his Pokémon, Kabu gave up on the idea altogether.

“Why don’t I take you there?” he said, deciding that was easier.

“Are you sure?” Kabu was a Gym Leader, hardly a small responsibility. You didn’t want to impose.

“Of course,” he said, nodding. Being unable to describe the area where he had come across the Turtonator bothered him more than he cared to admit.

Things were settled with that. The two of you arranged on a date and time when he would show you where he had caught his Turtonator.

Before getting up, Kabu reached down and offered his hand to Drakloak again. Your Pokémon sniffed it again and let Kabu get in a couple of scratches before he got fed up and skittered away. You were surprised. He wasn’t usually that friendly with people. It was odd for him to let people that he didn’t know pet him.

“I’m glad we ran into each other,” Kabu told you, offering his hand out to you. You took it and the two of you exchanged the same handshake that you had all those months ago out on the field. It was a nice handshake and finding yourself smiling at him, you almost forgot to let go.


	2. Spark

The weather held out for you. You had checked the weather the night before and it had warned of a fifty percent chance of rain but when you peeked your head through the curtains that covered your window you saw only clouds. There were no raindrops on the glass and the clouds in the sky were light in colour. It seemed like you were in luck.

You hurried through the morning and grabbing everything you would need for your expedition, you left your apartment. You had healed your Pokémon at the Pokémon Center the night before, sparing yourself the detour on the way to the Wild Area. There was always a line in the morning anyway, with Trainers looking to prepare for their day. You were always glad to beat the crowd, plus it had let you sleep in for another few precious minutes.

Although you weren’t late, quite the opposite, you found Kabu waiting where the two of you had agreed to meet. It didn’t bother you. One of you had to be the first to arrive.

It was odd to see Kabu wearing something that wasn’t his Gym uniform but what he was wearing suited him well. Khakis and a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, he looked a bit overdressed to be roamed the Wild Area but maybe he didn’t expect things to take long. 

Sensing that someone was approaching, Kabu glanced up and greeted you with a wave. Just a bit too far to speak without yelling, you hurried up to close the distance.

“Looks like the weather’s not too bad,” he called out, just a bit louder than his regular speaking voice. 

“We lucked out.” And you really had. Being a Fire-type, the Turtonator that you were after would hide away if it started to rain.

“He’s glad it’s not raining yet,” Kabu added, realizing that talking about the weather never went anywhere. Looking past him you saw a Centiskorch that you could only assume was his scurrying around in the grass. It was chasing a couple of wild Pokémon but judging by how it was moving it was playing with them, not just chasing them. If Kabu had been training his Pokémon all six of them would have been running around but since there would be no such training today his Centiskorch had to amuse himself.

But changing its focus from the wild Pokémon to you, Centiskorch paused for a moment before skittering towards you with a bit too much enthusiasm. You took a quick step backwards but it was nothing more than instinct. Centiskorch stopped right where he needed to, just a foot or two away from you.

Working up the nerve to look away from Centiskorch, you glanced towards Kabu. When he gave a nod you reached your hand up towards the Pokémon. As your hand got closer to the Pokémon, little by little you could feel the air getting warmer. The air directly surrounding the Pokémon was hot but not so hot that you couldn’t touch it, similar to freshly poured bathwater.

You set your palm against the hard exoskeleton of Centiskorch and he leaned into your touch. It had a unique texture, the closest thing that you could compare to being a teapot just filled with water straight from the kettle. You rubbed your hand around on the Pokémon’s head for a moment before pulling away. Though it didn’t hurt to keep your hand there, it wasn’t very comfortable.

“You get used to it,” Kabu told you, offering his own hand out for Centiskorch. He patted the Pokémon a few times on the head, his hand getting far closer to the fiery ornaments than yours had. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel the heat, just that he no longer feared it. He trusted his Pokémon more than he trusted some people, and Kabu knew that Centiskorch wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, at least not intentionally.

Giving Centiskorch one last solid pat on the head, Kabu made a gesture in the direction the two of you would be heading. You understood. It was time to get moving. You couldn’t wait around all day.

Although you had assumed that Centiskorch would return to his Pokéball, Kabu started walking without as much as a second glance towards his Pokémon. You took a couple of hesitant steps after Kabu, throwing glances back towards his Pokémon but while Centiskorch was carefully watching the two of you leave, it didn’t move.

Just as you were about to say something Centiskorch started to move, following after you after its own pace. The Pokémon kept his distance. The distance that it left between the two of you was more or less standard, almost like a moon’s orbit around a planet.

“Do you always walk like this?” You couldn’t help but ask. Whenever you took your Pokémon for a walk, they trailed directly beside you. There wasn’t any reason for it other than that was how you had trained them. You liked keeping an eye on them, making sure they didn’t go wandering off into the tall grass. You preferred not to fight wild Pokémon unless you had to.

“Unless it’s raining,” he laughed. While his Pokémon were willing to tolerate mist, or even a light drizzle, they would refuse to train if it was raining. It was days like those that he was grateful to have access to the stadium for his Pokémon to run around in.

Kabu kept walking but looked back towards his Pokémon every so often. Centiskorch was lumbering behind you but was more or less sticking to the trail. You could hear the rustling of the branches that he hit with his tails as he went but the sound was only noticeable because you were looking for it. Whether or not Kabu had instructed his Pokémon as to the right distance to keep, Centiskorch was fair enough away that he wouldn’t scare away the Pokémon that you were looking for yet close enough that he could scurry over if Kabu needed him.

The longer that the two, or three, of you walked the trail the more narrow and winding it became. Judging by the gradual but distinct change in the colour of the dirt on which you were treading, the two of you were getting close to the Giant’s Cap.

Though you could hear the occasional cry of a Pokémon in the distance, there wasn’t much noise. Centiskorch was quiet, or maybe he was muffled by the branches. Either way you wanted to wanted to fill the empty air. It seemed that Kabu had the same idea at the same time. As you were about to ask him about his Centiskorch, Kabu asked you why you had chosen to raise Dragon-type Pokémon.

The conversation drifted back and forth, both of you sharing about your Pokémon and yourself. You learned that Kabu was from Hoenn and unable to contain your interest you had peppered him with questions about the region. You had never been out of Galar but you had always wanted to see the rest of the world. Aside from the Dragon-type Pokémon that were native to the region, you wanted to sightsee. From what you had seen online, Meteor Falls was beautiful.

After quite some time spent chatting you got the answer to the question you had wanted to ask. Kabu had been working alongside his Centiskorch for over twenty years. He had been working with some of his Pokémon for longer but his Centiskorch and he were particularly close. It was like your Drakloak and you. Although your Flygon was your first Pokémon, she was rather aloof compared to your Drakloak.

Pushing small branches aside and ducking under the larger branches as you chatted, the two of you continued to make your way through the bush. You were glad you had taken Kabu up on his offer. The two of you had strayed far from the area he had attempted to describe to you when the two of you had been chatting. You wouldn’t have stood a chance of finding the Pokémon on your own. Regardless of the end result of your expedition you would have to thank him for it properly.

Although you weren’t about to speak, content listening to Kabu talk about the time when he had battled Leon, he shushed you. But there was no need. You had seen it too. Just a glimpse of that red and yellow colour through the otherwise dull leaves and bramble, it was what you had been searching for these past couple hours.

Moving in sync without exchanging as much as a single word, both of you crouched down where you were. Though you were in the middle of the footpath, judging by how faint the trail was there wasn’t any need to move out of the way. Kabu and you were likely the first people to be walking here for quite some time. You wouldn’t be surprised if it was only Pokémon that used this trail. 

Without looking, you reached down for the Pokéballs that were resting on your hip. You couldn’t afford to lose sight of the Pokémon that you had spotted, not after how long you had spent looking for it. Though your hand was resting on your Pokéballs, you didn’t go for any of them in particular. You weren’t sure which Pokémon you wanted to send out. Although you would have liked to give Applin the experience she was far too weak to take on such a strong wild Pokémon and likely wouldn’t be able to move through the shrubbery anyway. Flygon was your fastest Pokémon but Drakloak would have an easier time moving through the underbrush. You had only two Pokémon to decide between and yet you couldn’t make up your mind.

You caught Kabu throwing you a glance. The Turtonator you had spotted wasn’t getting any closer, in fact quite the opposite. It was waddling further into the brush. As you remained motionless, Kabu considered calling for Centiskorch. Although he would take a moment or two to make his way over, the Turtonator would likely initiate a battle instead of running. Turtonator were a rather defensive species, preferring to defend itself than to flee.

About to whistle for his Pokémon, Kabu didn’t get the opportunity to. You had made up your mind. Taking a short breath and steadying yourself as best you could, you tossed a Pokéball into the forest. There was a flash of bright blue light and the Turtonator you had been aiming for had disappeared. 

Watching the Pokéball you had thrown roll around in the grass, you had to remind yourself to breathe. You had always hated these few seconds. There was nothing that you could do except wait. Sometimes you would close your eyes or cross your fingers even though you knew it wouldn’t change anything.

Unable to pick between your Pokémon, you had chosen to take your chance throwing a Pokéball. A couple of weeks ago you had splurged on Quickballs when they had gone on sale and while you hadn’t had anything in particular in mind for them, now you were glad you had made such an impulsive purchase. And you were even more glad when the Pokéball stopped moving and clicked.

With no regard for your appearance, you got up and scrambled through the brush. Though it wasn’t far to go, the shrubbery was thick and it took you longer than you would have liked to get to the Pokéball. Once you did get to it you bent down and swiped it. There was no doubting it. The Turtonator was inside, although justifiably a bit grumpy.

Turning back towards Kabu, you walked through the brush. Neither of you bothered to hide your smiles. While Kabu wouldn’t have trusted a Quickball, he was just as excited as you were that it had worked.

“I can’t believe it!” you cheered, holding the Pokéball almost like a trophy. The raw enthusiasm was contagious. Kabu had been pleased to catch his own Turtonator but not like this. He had felt relieved to find the Pokémon for his own team after having spent so long looking for it but not excited like he was now.

Watching you bounce the Pokéball between your hands, Kabu couldn’t help but wonder if it really had anything to do with the Turtonator at all. The sunlight that was filtering through the overhead leaves kept reflecting off the Pokéball but Kabu didn’t notice at all. All he could focus on was you.

He forced a cough. His mouth and throat had gone dry. He had let his thoughts wander from why the two of you were there.

“We should head back down,” he muttered, turning towards his Centiskorch. The Pokémon had grown a bit closer but without being called it didn’t approach the two of you.

Agreeing with him, the two of you started your way down the trail. As easily as the conversation had flowed on the way up, things were somehow easier on your return trip. If there had been any awkwardness between the two of you before, it had disappeared when you had caught your Turtonator. The two of you weren’t a Gym Leader and a Trainer, but rather two people enjoying themselves.

As Kabu told you about when he had caught his Torkoal back in Hoenn and how much of an ordeal it had been, you couldn’t help but notice how nice his laugh was. Although you had him laugh before, just once, it had been light but now as he told you about the Camerupt that had he upset while looking for a Torkoal, he was really laughing. Both a rather serious person and a Gym Leader, it was nice to see this side of Kabu.

Though you would have liked to let Turtonator of the Pokéball to introduce it to your team the trail didn’t allow for it. You waited until you got to the plains to do so. The area where the two of you had met up earlier was flat and spacious, the perfect place for such an introduction. With nothing to block your view you could keep watch over all of them all at once.

Although you were keeping a close eye on your team, you didn’t involve yourself. It was best if they introduced themselves to each other without you facilitating things. You wouldn’t go too far in case they had a spat but you allowed yourself to relax. Things seemed as if they were going well. Drakloak was seemingly interrogating Turtonator with short squeaks while your other Pokémon were sizing the newcomer from afar but Turtonator didn’t seem uncomfortable. If he did then you would have returned him to his Pokéball and tried the introduction again later.

Standing beside you, Kabu was watching your Pokémon as intently as you were. Exhausted, his Centiskorch was back in its Pokéball. Before he had returned the Pokémon to his Pokéball you had thanked him for watching after you, and with Kabu’s permission, had given him a couple Pokéblocks.

Or at least Kabu seemed to be watching your Pokémon. Though he was looking out on the field, in the direction of your Pokémon, his thoughts weren’t on them. No matter how hard he tried Kabu couldn’t pry his thoughts away from you. Today had been a great day. Kabu couldn’t remember the last time that catching a Pokémon had been that fulfilling. It had got his heart beating just as strongly as some of his most hard fought Pokémon battles.

Yet the more thought he gave to it, looking out at the Wild Area that was sprawled out before the two of you, the more he realized that it hadn’t had anything to do with the Pokémon you had caught at all. It had everything to do with who he had spent the day with.

“Thank you,” you murmured. “I really appreciate it.”

“(name),” Kabu said, drawing your attention. You had expected to hear “no problem” or “you’re welcome” in reply to what you had said, not your name spoken in such a serious tone.

Just like when you had been sitting out on the cafe patio, Kabu was staring at you with unexpected intensity. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had felt this nervous. As if he was standing next to one of his Pokémon and coaching it through a powerful move, he could feel a thin layer of sweat begin to form a skin.

“I’d like to take you out to dinner sometime,” he said, somehow managing to speak.

The two of you stared at each other for a moment. You had heard what Kabu and said, but you needed to take a moment to process and understand what he had asked.

“Like a date?” you asked. His expression as serious as ever, his wording was all that gave his intentions away.

“Yes,” Kabu replied, though not without hesitation. He couldn’t tell whether you were giving him the change what he was asking, or just wanted some clarification. If he had the clarity of thought to see how you were looking at him, he would have known which of those two options it was but as tense as he was he wasn’t able to.

“I’d really like that,” you said with a smile.

Kabu didn’t know whether that was the answer he had been expected or not, but it was the answer that he had been hoping for. Nodding, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Although upon moving to Galar he had been reluctant to get a Rotom Phone, he had quickly realized that it was a necessity in the region. 

He offered his phone to you, and was glad that you took it from him. He knew what to do thanks to Raihan, but things would be easier if you did it. You glanced over at your Pokémon as you entered your number into Kabu’s phone. It was about time to call them back into their Pokéballs.

“I’ll walk you to the station,” Kabu told you to which you nodded enthusiastically. You weren’t ready to part ways quite yet.


	3. Flame

That date was the first of many. As it turned out the day you had spent in the Wild Area with Kabu had been no fluke. The two of you got along well, regardless of whether you were training your Pokémon together or were out on more typical dates. Unlike some of the other people you had dated, you felt like you could be yourself around Kabu. There was no pretense on either side; just the two of you enjoying your time together.

But if you were being honest, you hadn’t been sure that things would work out at first. You had understood and frankly expected the first date to be awkward, and it had been. But the second date had been just as awkward, and so had the third. While the two of you got along well when you spent time together, once either of you remembered that it was date things would become uncomfortable. Returning home after one of the more recent dates you found yourself wondering whether Kabu and you were meant to be friends and nothing more.

You knew that everyone did things at their own pace and you knew that trying to hurry things along unnaturally would strain things, but Kabu hadn’t as much as held your hand, not even once. His hand had brushed against yours plenty of times, and while you had always loosened up your hand, expecting him to take your hand into his, he never had. You had thought about taking the initiative and grabbing his hand yourself but in the end you had decided against it. If Kabu wasn’t comfortable enough to hold your hand then you didn’t want to force him into it.

Everything changed on your fifth date. Or maybe it wasn’t fair to call it a date. The two of you had met up in the Wild Area to train your Pokémon together. Even though it had only been a couple hours’ work, it had been a couple hours of hard work. Exhausted, the two of you had decided to sit down in the grass to watch as opposed to running alongside them as you had been.

While some Trainers preferred to command their Pokémon from the sidelines, you saved that for battles. When you trained your Pokémon you trained with them and as it turned out, so did Kabu. Whether it was your compatible personalities or just a coincidence, it made training so much more enjoyable.

Flygon was flying around, practicing an evasive maneuver she had been working on for some time, and while she usually preferred to practice by herself, Kabu’s Centiskorch was aiming short streams of fire towards her. The first time you had seen the Centiskorch do that your instinct had been to reach for your Pokéball, expecting that a fight had broken out, but after watching things for a moment you realized that while the burst of fire _had_ been directed towards Flygon, it was nothing more than an obstacle to dodge. The two Pokémon had decided to train together without any instruction from Kabu or you.

Not watching what your Flygon was doing and instead watching your grounded Pokémon, you didn’t notice what Flygon was doing until it was too late. Missing the top of your head by only a couple of feet, she sped past you before making a sharp turn. Spinning around, you watched her tear off across the hillside, making record pace without even a glance back towards you.

Although you couldn’t help but grumble and shout at your Pokémon you were relieved that the surprise flyby hadn’t been accompanied by any fire. As if getting close to the Pokémon’s fire hadn’t been enough, you had seen some of the things Centiskorch was capable of. You could think of dozens of more pleasant ways to die.

“Sorry about that.” Realizing that you hadn’t been the only person that your Flygon had almost hit, you turned to Kabu to apologize. He played it off with a gentle laugh. He had found himself in many dangerous situations over the years and what your Flygon had done hadn’t fazed him at all.

Instead of turning back towards the Pokémon, Kabu kept his eyes on you. Even though today was more or less a perfect day in terms of the weather, with only thin lines of clouds streaking the sky, the real reason that the day was perfect was because of who was sitting next to him. The wind stirred up by your Pokémon’s low flight past had messed up your hair but it didn’t seem to bother you. You were brushing it back into place, considering tying it back with the hair elastic that was on your wrist.

Catching Kabu staring at you, you wondered if you should be tying it back. Though you couldn’t imagine it was that bad Kabu was making no effort to hide how he was looking at you. Just as you were about to reach for the elastic, Kabu reached out and interrupted the thought. Moving his fingers with far more delicacy than your own, he brushed a strand of hair back behind your ear.

You smiled, a silent “thank you” for catching what you had missed. As serious as he tended to be, he returned the smile. You couldn’t help but wish that he would smile more often. It was comforting and reassuring, far more than any words could possibly be. Yet maybe that would take away from the magic of it. Whenever Kabu did smile, it felt hard-earned.

But despite how calming his smile should have been, you could feel your heart beating at twice its usual pace. Not only in your chest but in your throat and the palms of your hands. Instead of pulling away and returning to his side, his hand had fallen to rest on your cheek. The hand that you never felt except in passing until now was holding you. When you leaned into it, though you had feared that he might realize what he was doing and retreat, the only realization was that Kabu had wanted it as much as you did. 

Seeing you look at him and feel the warmth of your cheek against the palm of his hand, Kabu felt all reluctance fade away. He no longer had any doubt as to whether you felt as strongly about him as he did you. Even though you were no longer taking the Gym Challenge, he had been apprehensive that his position as Gym Leader might make you feel obligated to return his feelings. While everything you had done and every date that the two of you went on further assured him that the feelings were mutual, he couldn’t shake that sliver of a doubt. But he had been holding himself back for no reason.

While there were things that you wanted to say, neither of you could bring yourself to speak, as if it would ruin the moment. In the end, you were glad that you had stayed silent. Holding you still with his hand, Kabu leaned in towards you. There was no pang of disappointment when his lips met your cheek, only satisfaction when his lips met yours. Although you wouldn’t have minded either option, you were glad that he had decided on a proper kiss.

Despite how hesitant you were used to Kabu being, when you parted your lips he didn’t show any hesitance. The hand that had been holding you fell down to hold your side. You felt his fingers, calloused by years of training, begin to slip underneath your shirt, but they went no further than just ever so slightly higher than where your shirt had risen to.

You sighed, more of a breath than a complaint as the two of you had to separate. If there had been no need to breathe you would have been content to stay as you had been but even after pulling away things weren’t too bad. Kabu hadn’t gone far or hadn’t let you gone far, holding you tightly where you were. 

“I’m sorry,” were the words Kabu never got the chance to say. Even before you had sensed the words forming on his lips, you were already leaning back in to pull him close. You couldn’t help yourself, and judging by how easily Kabu fell into the second kiss, neither could he. There was nothing to be apologizing for.

A muffled bark was what it took to break the two of you apart. Trying to straighten yourself out as best you could, once you had turned to where the sound had come from you realized that there was no need. While you had been expecting some passerby to have stumbled into the two of you, it was only Kabu’s Arcanine. Proud of the rather large branch he had found, he had come over to show it off.

“Put it back,” Kabu sighed, motioning with his hand. Though it was an impressive branch, Arcanine should have known better than to drag branches around like that. He had gotten a good scolding after presenting an unfortunate Sudowoodo to Kabu.

Giving only another muffled bark, Arcanine wandered away, taking the branch with it. You watched the Pokémon walk away, unsure as to what to say or do. Things had started and ended so suddenly with Kabu. While you tried running through a couple possibilities, you felt something wrap around your hand. As warm as the weather was, you didn’t mind the heat of Kabu’s hand as he held yours.

Though the sun wasn’t yet setting, it had fallen much lower in the sky than you had expected. The two of you had met up just after lunch and while it didn’t feel like several hours had passed, it was now late in the day. It was unfortunate. You didn’t want to head home quite yet. You were happy where you were. While you had never minded to commute between Motostoke and Hulbury for work, you weren’t looking forward to it this evening.

The hand was holding yours squeezed, earning your attention. You turned and found that Kabu was looking at you, and you wondered if he had ever turned away.

“I have an apartment in Motostoke,” he said. You knew that. He had already told you about his apartment. He had chosen the apartment he had because of its proximity to the city’s stadium. He could have afforded to choose a nicer apartment a bit further away from the city center but he had decided that he would prefer having the extra time to train. But Kabu wasn’t reminding you of the decision that he made.

“But I’ll walk you to the station,” he said, beginning to doubt what he had said.

“No, it’s fine,” you insisted, seeing how his expression had begun to change. “I’d appreciate that.”

“It’s a long trip to Hulbury,” you clarified. You would appreciate staying in Motostoke tonight.

There was no need for anything else to be said. His hand regrettably breaking with yours, the two of you reached for your Pokéballs. Standing up from the grass, you waved your arms in the air. Though your grounded Pokémon would hear you if you whistled, Flygon wouldn’t be able to hear you.

Probably worn out from the long day of training, your Pokémon didn’t put up much of a fight. Usually they would whine about getting back into their Pokéballs but today all four of them came over. Even Flygon, who was almost always difficult, landed in front of you and returned to her Pokéball without any complaints. Never getting any such opposition, all of Kabu’s Pokémon ran over when he whistled, leaving him waiting on you.

Instead of going your separate ways at the station, Kabu and you kept walking. You threw it a glance as you passed it, and while you thought of how nice it would be to get home after such a long day of training, you preferred where you were headed.

Kabu offered to sleep on the couch, but you saw no need for that.


	4. Blaze

Seeing no point in having your own apartment when you never used it, you didn’t bother to renew your lease. After living there for so long, it almost felt wrong to leave. It looked so different empty, like you hadn’t lived there for five years. At the time you had to remind yourself that it was only an apartment, and that your landlord hadn’t been that great anyway. Now you hardly thought about it at all.

“I have a match tonight.”

The words stirred you from your thoughts. Chewing on a piece of toast, you had been staring across the room, looking at nothing in particular. Now that Kabu had made you realize that you had been zoned out, you couldn’t recall what you had been thinking about, if anything at all. You weren’t quite awake yet. Kabu was naturally an early riser and although you had thought you were as well, you weren’t yet used to the half an hour difference in your natural schedules.

“So I don’t think we can have dinner out,” he finished. The two of you had been planning to go out to a small independent restaurant in the city to celebrate the end of the traditional workweek, but although you had the weekends off, as a Gym Leader Kabu’s schedule wasn’t so predictable. While he didn’t train on the weekend unless it was a necessity, he wasn’t responsible for the scheduling of Gym matches. That being said, even if he could have scheduled his own matches he wouldn’t have. He enjoyed them far too much for that. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” you said, waving your hand. You hadn’t been too set on dinner anyway. For whatever reason, maybe because how many matches he had during the past week, you had suspected that Kabu would be called in for a Gym match.

“Is it a late night match?” you asked.

“Yes, and it’s last minute too,” he replied. The challenger had only approached the Gym last night and the request had only been relayed to him this morning. Although he didn’t mind he wished that he would have given you more notice.

“Why don’t I go?” Thinking about it now, you hadn’t been to watch a Gym match in weeks. After dropping out of the Gym Challenge you had gone to a couple matches, living vicariously through the challengers. A ticket to a match was barely more than bus fare, far cheaper than what it would cost you to be standing in the stadium as a challenger.

Though you had stopped going to matches thanks to getting caught up in your work, you had started going again. You didn’t know who you were supposed to be cheering for, but you cheered loudly nonetheless. Of course you wanted to cheer for Kabu but you wanted the challengers to win as well. You supposed that you were rooting for both sides, for everyone to do their very best. Regardless of who won, the most intense battles were the best.

Applin had enjoying watching the match with you, chirping as loudly as she could for the challengers, but after evolving things weren’t the same. As an Applin it had been easy for you to carry her around the stadium and to lift her up for a better view of the field but now as an Appletun she was too awkward to manage easily in such tight quarters. She was seemingly fine to watch it on television though, making happy chirps as she watched albeit in a much lower tone.

“You don’t have to,” Kabu said, shaking his head. It was his fourth match this week, even he was beginning to get worn down. Though you hadn’t attended any of the other matches because of work, he didn’t want to take your weekend away from you. Especially after such a long week. A Ditto had managed to squeeze underneath a gap in the fence and get into another pen. While all of the Trainers had been understanding, it had been a lot of phone calls and paperwork.

“It’ll be fun,” you assured him. “It’s been too long since I’ve gone.” Not really asking and more so telling him that you were going to be there, he couldn’t argue with you.

While both Kabu and the challenger had to be at the Gym in just over an hour, it was to warm up and make sure that everything went smoothly later. The match itself wouldn’t be starting until after sundown. After seeing Kabu off, you spent the afternoon lounging around the apartment. You watched television for a while before deciding that there wasn’t anything worth watching.

If there had been a Gym match on you might have watched that, even though you would watching one in person in only an hour or two, but with the next advertised match being Kabu’s, all you could do was wait. You rummaged through the travel brochures that Kabu had tossed on the dining table a couple of days ago. Even though they didn’t fight in more a handful of matches a week, they were guaranteed so many weeks off every year. That short holiday was coming up in only a couple of weeks. Kabu had asked you to try to get that time off and once you had gotten confirmation from your boss that the timing of things was fine, Kabu had told you in a very matter of fact manner that he would be taking you to Hoenn.

You had no objections to it. While Kabu had told you so much about the region, it wasn’t the same as having seen it. There were things that couldn’t be expressed in pictures or in words. He wanted you to see things for yourself.

Flipping through the brochures that he had picked up, you thought about what you wanted to see. You would only be in the region for a week, leaving you without enough time to see everything. Kabu had told you a couple things that he wanted to see or do, but gave you control over the rest of the trip. Meteor Falls had been your immediate first choice but aside from that, you didn’t know much about Hoenn. Many of the things in the brochures looked nice, leaving you with a difficult decision.

Even on your way to the Motostoke Gym you were thinking about what you might do in Hoenn. You considered going to Sootopolis City, but despite how beautiful the geography was, the city was rather remote. Seeing the city would a trip as of itself. You sighed. With the trip only a few weeks away, you would have to start looking into things more seriously than you were now.

Walking into the stadium all your thoughts were drawn to the impending match. Despite having not bought your tickets in advance, the seat you had got wasn’t bad. Although you could have gotten a better seat through Kabu, you didn’t feel the need, but if it had been a bigger match you might have been tempted to take him up on his offer. You stood up with the rest of the crowd as the two Trainers walked out onto the field, ready to cheer for whoever you were cheering for. 

It was a close match. With both of the challengers down to their last Pokémon, the match had been decided in an instant. Missing its Water Pulse, the challenger’s Pelipper had been backed into a corner by Torkoal. While neither of the Pokémon had a real advantage in regard to their typing, Torkoal had the advantage in terms of experience. Needing only a short burst of a whistle, Torkoal carried out a near perfect Stone Edge. The stones that rose out of the stadium ground struck Pelipper with just enough force to knock it out.

No matter the result of the match, the challenger could hold their head high. It was one of the closest matches Kabu had fought in weeks if not months. The handshake that the two Trainers exchanged had the very same amount of respect as if the challenger had won. Leaving the field, Kabu knew that he would see that challenger again in a couple of weeks, and would likely come out victorious. He looked forward to that match.

The stadium packed full of people, it took longer than you would have liked to leave. Working your way back down to the entrance of the stadium, you were glad that you had left Appletun at home. You would have been reluctant to make her return to her Pokéball, and it would have taken the two of you ages to leave.

Reaching the main floor of the stadium, you went towards the staff entrance. With the flow of the crowd moving towards the exit, you had no difficulty getting over there. About to stop you, the staff member froze when they realized who you were. You had been around the stadium enough for them to recognize you. You knew some of the staff by name, but there were part-time workers that you didn’t know as well. Wishing that you knew this staff member’s name, you scooted past them with only a wave and a smile.

You knocked on the door of the locker room and hearing Kabu, you entered. Although it was called a locker room, it was surprisingly barren. There were a couple of benches to sit on and a couple of attached rooms such a washroom, but aside from that, there wasn’t much to look at in the room except for Kabu. His hair was wet. Though it would have been from sweat if you had arrived earlier, by the time you had arrived Kabu had taken a shower.

“I’m glad I came,” you said.

“It was a good match,” he replied, nodding. It didn’t feel as if the match had finished. His heart hadn’t quite settled back into its regular pace. Looking up at you, he forced himself to breathe. As intense a match as it had been, he was looking forward to going home. His Pokémon had been healed by the Gym staff but there was no such thing for people.

As he stood up, Kabu wrapped his arms around you, taking you by surprise. Though you let out a gasp, you were more than happy to let yourself melt into his arms. He smelled fresh but still like himself.

“I’m glad you came,” he muttered. He ran his fingers across your back, as if he was smoothing out creases.

While both of you would have liked to stay like that, it was only inevitable that Kabu let go of you. The sooner that the two of you left the stadium the sooner you could get home.

Like all of the other stadiums in the region, the Motostoke Gym had exits other than the main entrance. They weren’t secret or even well-hidden, just not advertised. Kabu guided you out one of those doors to leave, even though it would add another block onto your walk home. Running into the crowd would add far more time. Kabu didn’t mind chatting with fans or handing out League Cards, but not tonight. 

Although you would have liked to stop for dinner now, neither of you were hungry. Kabu had brought food to eat before the match and you had eaten stadium food. With the tickets so cheap, the stadium made most if not all of its money on concessions. It was for the best that you didn’t go to too many of the matches.

Too busy chatting about the match, the two of you didn’t notice the woman who was approaching you until it was too late. Having appeared out of nowhere, the reporter had blocked your path, leaving you with nowhere to go. Pleased with her decision to wait where she had, the reporter made no effort to hide her grin. It had been risky, but it had paid off.

“Ahh, Kabu!” the reporter called out after fiddling around with her microphone. While she aimed it towards Kabu, it wasn’t too intrusive. Kabu could decline if he wanted to. “Any thoughts about the match?”

“I think both of us did our best, and I’m looking forward to our rematch,” Kabu told her. Summing everything up succinctly, he made it difficult for her to follow up that question with another. Having dealt with numerous reporters and journalists over the years, Kabu had mastered the art of ending interviews without being rude.

“And who’s this?” the reporter continued on to ask. Realizing only at the last moment that she was aiming her microphone towards you, there was no time to react. “A lucky fan?”

You were glad that there wasn’t a camera aimed at you. Unsure as to how to answer, you had gone silent. If Kabu hadn’t dropped his arm from your side when he had seen the reporter, he would have felt how tense you were.

You had been nervous when you had stepped onto the field for your Gym matches and you felt those same nerves now. Although you had managed to work though your nerves for those matches, focusing more on your Pokémon than the roaring crowd, there was nothing to distract you now.

About to force yourself to say something, anything just to end the silence, Kabu reached out for the microphone and directed it back towards himself.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Kabu stated. It took the reporter a moment to realize what Kabu had said. As did it take you a moment. Although you had never felt like Kabu was hiding the fact that the two of you seeing each other, he had never made a big deal out of it. There was no need for anyone else except for he and you to get involved.

Wrapping his arm back around your waist, he leaned into you, forcing you to take a step. With him taking the lead, the two of you walked around the reporter. As you passed her, you heard her chasing after you, asking for clarification or another statement on the matter, but now that you had broken away there would be no stopping. You didn’t rush, just kept to a steady pace as you left the reporter behind. The two of you didn’t stop until you got back to your shared apartment.

You sighed as you closed the door behind you, deciding to leave everything that had happened at the door. While you could have asked Kabu why he had said that to the reporter, you already knew what he would say. He hadn’t liked how his arm had dropped from your side so casually when he had realized there was a reporter. He shouldn’t have had to do that. He should have been able to keep his hand where it had naturally fallen.

Apparently Kabu had agreed with your decision. He followed you into the bedroom without as much as a single word. While it was early still, both of you were tired; Kabu from the match and you from cheering during the match. Though it seemed like an unfair comparison, there were definitely times when you had been more tired after watching a match than you would have been participating in it.

You were glad to get out of your clothes and into bed. Instead of digging through your drawers in search of pajamas, you pulled out an oversized t-shirt. Kabu had received it from a sponsor of his but the shirt was tacky and too large even for him, and thus you had taken it for your own. He didn’t mind. In fact, while he wouldn’t say as much aloud, he liked that you were wearing something of his.

You stretched out across the bed for a moment before remembering that the bed was to be shared. Having actually spent the time to look for clothes and get changed into them, he had taken a bit longer than you to get to the bed. Having sprawled yourself out, you sat up as he got into bed and did the same. 

“Are you tired?” you murmured, looking over at Kabu. Only in the bedroom because you were, he had been about to reach for the book on his nightstand. It always took him awhile to wind down from a match. Even though his heart was no longer beating out of his chest, the adrenaline was still in his blood.

“Not very,” he replied, glad he hadn’t gone for the book. Little by little you were moving towards him in the bed. Moving as if you might caught, there was no need. Your intent was clear.

Your hands reaching him before the rest of you, you pulled yourself towards him. He welcomed you into his arms and you were content to fall into them. There were very few things better than being held by Kabu. He held you perfectly. Tightly enough that you felt secure and for him to show that he didn’t want to let go, yet there were enough give that you could free yourself if you wanted to.

Setting a kiss against his cheek, you could have set another against his lips but opted to cut things short by pulling away. You felt him resist letting go of you but it wasn’t for more than a split second. He knew that you weren’t about to go very far.

Swinging your leg over him, you got yourself settled on top of him. Just another couple of inches backwards and you would be where you really would have preferred to be resting but it wasn’t quite time for that yet.

“But tired?” you asked. No real preference tonight, you were leaving the decision to him. If he was tired then you would stay as you were, but if he wasn’t tired then you would return back to the bed and leave things to him.

“Tired,” he agreed. Although he might have answered differently if you were lying in bed next to him, Kabu couldn’t bear to change the scene unfolding before him. He squeezed your thigh with the hand that had come to rest there. More of an answer than his verbal reply, that gentle touch was all you needed. 

While maybe it had been presumptuous to not bother getting changed into pajama pants or to slip off your underwear once you were under the covers, you had been right to. All you had to do was to lift yourself up and pull down the sweatpants your boyfriend was wearing. Your fingers expecting to find a hem other than that of his sweatpants, you were pleasantly surprised to find nothing else.

You held your tongue, keeping your thoughts to yourself. You didn’t give him the wrong impression. You liked that he had been looking forward to this as much as you had been.

“You looked so great out on the field today,” you told him, barely louder than a breath. Although you had meant to finish speaking before lowering yourself down, you couldn’t contain yourself. Leaving everything to your hands, Kabu watched as you guided yourself onto his cock.

“I kept thinking about you,” he admitted, forcing himself to make eye contact with you. Though Kabu had been focused once the match had begun, before and after the match Kabu couldn’t think about anything else except for you. You watched all of his matches and he knew that, but there was something different about you being there in person. The thought that you were out in the crowd and that the two of you were somehow sharing the moment kept drifting into the forefront of his mind. The cold shower he had taken after the match wasn’t nearly enough. He had been relieved to see you after the match.

As if keeping eye contact wasn’t difficult enough with how you were moving, you decided that it was time to lose the shirt you had pulled on. An excuse not to wear any bottoms, the shirt was long enough to cover what it needed to. While that had been good for slipping into bed under false pretenses, it wasn’t any good now. 

Although you tried your best not to laugh or even smirk as you lifted the shirt over your head, when Kabu pulled you down onto him without any warning, you couldn’t help yourself. Tossing your shirt aside had the impact that you had hoped it would.

There were a couple of short, shallow thrusts before Kabu realized what he was doing and forced himself to loosen his grip. All the training in the world couldn’t prepare him for how great you looked and how great you felt. It took everything he had not to express that in unsavoury grunts, leaving his hands as the only way to express himself.

“Kabu,” you murmured, calling out to him. While he had given up on trying to stop himself from following the bounce of your breasts as you moved and you had no problem with that, you needed his attention, if just for a moment. You had to repeat his name for a second time, but when you did Kabu looked up at you. Seeing that you had his attention, you made a motion towards his hand but didn’t reach out for it. All Kabu needed was a reminder. Keeping one hand on your thigh, he let the other move towards your clit. Though tentative at first, his fingers grew more assertive as his inhibition fell away.

“(name).” Though he tried to keep his voice to a whisper, it came out in a groan. His fingers were starting to dig into your thigh again, and he had to fight the urge for his hands to drift upwards and settle on your hips. He wanted to guide you through it, but there was no need for him to. You were doing everything right.

Trying to speak between forced breaths, there was no need for Kabu to be trying so hard. You knew what he was trying to say. But he wanted to hear himself say it just as much as he wanted you to hear it. Murmuring “I love you” to him was all that was needed to break the pattern, allowing him to say those same words back to you. Just glad to have said it, he no longer cared that it came out in a growl.

Barely able to keep yourself moving, you were having trouble breathing just as much as he was. While brushing away his hand might have helped, you had no desire to do so. Instead of pulling away or pushing him away, you leaned into his hand, looking for that added bit of pressure.

Catching Kabu watching you as your movements became more erratic with desperation, you had to force yourself to look away. You couldn’t handle it. It was too much. Just something as simple as seeing how Kabu was looking at you was far too much. But even after turning away you could hear the sounds that he was making, the shorts grunts and breaths, and the sounds that you were making as you rode him. You grumbled but kept moving, forcing yourself to keep going.

Feeling your muscles twinge, you realized something that you had neglected earlier. A decision that Kabu and you had forgotten to make. And you were running out of time to make it. Each time you rose then fell back down, you grew closer to the decision being made for you. You thought about rising up off of him but couldn’t find the strength to. Your body was doing everything that it could to keep you where you were. Every time you managed to get anywhere, your legs could give out again, and would slide back down onto him.

After a couple attempts, even that was too much. When you fell back down it was for the last time. Kabu kept moving his fingers even though you weren’t really sure whether you wanted him to, but finding yourself moving your hips to get closer to the pressure that his fingers added, you were glad that he hadn’t pulled them away.

Finally Kabu allowed the hand that had been resting on your thigh to slide up to settle on your hip. While your movements were slight, only moving to ride things out, that was all that he needed. It had taken everything he had to wait until now and with everything having fallen into place, there was no need to hold himself back.

Both of you grumbled as he finished inside you. Though it wasn’t what you had been planning and though you might think differently in the morning, you couldn’t help but savour how it felt. He felt perfect inside of you, and warm, especially since you were filled with his cum. You almost didn’t want to pull yourself way. Yet with your breathing and heartbeat beginning to calm down, and with Kabu beginning to run his fingers across your thigh, you had no excuse to linger any further.

Both of you glanced down to watch as you rose up. Watching his cum begin to leak out of you was one thing, but feeling it happen was something else entirely. It was confirmation of what had happened, as if you needed a reminder. Yet while it felt nice, you already missed how Kabu felt inside you. You sighed as you lowered yourself down onto the bed, your limbs shaky and weak. Though you were barely on the bed, Kabu reached out and pulled you against him.

“Sorry,” he whispered, in between kisses that he pressed against your skin. His breath tickled as much as the kisses did.

Feeling him touch your bare side with the tips of his fingers, you couldn’t help but twist towards him. Reaching out for him, you set your hands on either side of his head and slid your fingers up into his hair. Surprisingly soft, the silver grey hair complemented your skin tone. Your hands looked they belonged there, holding him.

“It’s alright.” You meant it. It was a problem for tomorrow. All that mattered to you right now was Kabu and how the two of you were holding each other.

Every now and then you found yourself thinking about the Gym Challenge and how things would have gone differently if you had entered when you were younger. You might have discovered your passion for raising Pokemon earlier and you might not have found yourself in a dead-end job for as long as you had. But if you hadn’t waited all that time and taken up the Challenge when you had, you wouldn’t have met Kabu, at least not like this. Despite how winding your road had been, everything had turned out fine in the end.


End file.
